The effect of alterations in foot centre of pressure on lower body kinematics during the five-iron golf swing

ABSTRACT

The research aimed to evaluate the effects of an intervention aimed at altering pressure towards the medial aspect of the foot relating to stability mechanisms associated with the golf swing. We hypothesised that by altering the position of the foot pressure, the lower body stabilisation would improve which in turn would enhance weight distribution and underpinning lower body joint kinematics. Eight professional golf association (PGA) golf coaches performed five golf swings, recorded using a nine-camera motion analysis system synchronised with two force platforms. Following verbal intervention, they performed further five swings. One participant returned following a one-year intervention programme and performed five additional golf swings to provide a longitudinal case study analysis. Golf performance was unchanged evidenced by the velocity and angle of the club at ball impact (BI), although the one-year intervention significantly changed the percentage of weight experienced at each foot in the final 9% of downswing, which provided an even weight distribution at BI. This is a highly relevant finding as it indicates that the foot centre of pressure was central to the base of support and in-line with the centre of mass (CoM), indicating significantly increased stability when the CoM is near maximal acceleration.     

Book Reviews

Abstract

Bard, Chantal, Fleury, Michelle, and Hay, Laurette (Eds.). Development of eye-hand coordination across the life span. Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 1990. Pp. xii, 384. Figures, tables, references. Reviewed by Kathi Kamm, Indiana University.     

JROTC as a Substitute for PE: Really?

Purpose: Even though physical education (PE) is an evidence-based strategy for providing and promoting physical activity, alternative programs such as the Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps (JROTC) are commonly substituted for PE in many states. The purpose of this study was to compare student physical activity and lesson contexts during high school PE and JROTC sessions. Method: The System for Observing Fitness Instruction Time was used to assess PE and JROTC sessions (N = 38 each) in 4 high schools that provided both programs. Data were analyzed using t tests, negative binomial regression, and logistic regression. Results: Students engaged in significantly more moderate-to-vigorous physical activity during PE than during JROTC sessions and they were significantly less sedentary. Significant differences between the 2 program types were also found among lesson contexts. Conclusions: PE and JROTC provide substantially different content and contexts, and students in these programs engage in substantially different amounts of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity. Students in JROTC, and perhaps other alternative programs, are less likely to accrue health-supporting physical activity and engage in fewer opportunities to be physically fit and motorically skilled. Policies and practices for providing substitutions for PE should be carefully examined.     

An ethic of care and educational practice

This article explicates the theoretical framework of an ethic of care and outlines recommendations for applying the framework to practice in adventure education, offering possibilities for re-imagining organizations as centrally concerned with compassion and care. Focusing on the work of Gilligan and Noddings, we suggest an understanding of an ethic of care that is contextual, ungendered, and inclusive of both the private and public spheres of life, and draw parallels between this ethic and the philosophies underlying Outward Bound specifically, and adventure education more generally. Finally, we outline possibilities for organizing educational curricula around centres of care for self, others, and the natural world, using Noddings' suggested curricular components of modeling, dialogue, practice, and confirmation.     

Showing How Many: young children's written representation of number

Abstract This paper reports a simple experiment which explores young children's written representation of number. Previous research (e.g. Hughes, 1983; Sinclair, Siegrist & Sinclair, 1982) has shown that several factors may influence the extent to which children will spontaneously deploy their knowledge of numerals to represent numerosity, but the available evidence is insufficient to provide a clear account of the relative weight of these factors. The present experiment involved presenting five to six year‐old children with arrays of simple objects and manipulating the wording of the instructions. The results showed that the use of the term ‘how many’ led the vast majority of the children to show numerosity by using materials. In contrast, when asked to represent ‘what’ they could see, most children concerned themselves with depicting the nature of the objects in the array by drawing or writing. These findings suggest that the linguistic context of the task is important in determining the children's representational strategies. Furthermore, it is argued that children's understanding of number and their ability to use numerals is quite separable from their knowledge of when it is appropriate to deploy these skills.     

Reviews

Jeffree, Dorothy M. and Skeffington, Margaret (1980) Let Me Read. MacFarlane, Tom, with Moyle, Donald (adviser), (1980) Comprehension Through the Newspaper. Pugh, A.K., Lee, V.J. and Swann, J. (Ed.) (1980) Language and Language Use. Veatch, Jeannette (1978) Reading in the Elementary School.     

Becoming a ‘Girl’: post‐structuralist suggestions for educational research

Post‐structuralist analyses have yet to be used widely by feminist classroom researchers. Some, such as Bronwyn Davies and Valerie Walkerdine, have showed how post‐structuralism provides a conceptual language which transcends agency/structure dualisms, as well as avoids the simplicities of theories which invoke a monolithic notion of patriarchal power in understanding girls’ classroom experiences. This paper attempts to spell out some of the diverse benefits of post‐structuralism for feminist empirical research in education.     

Further Progress Towards a Standardised Curriculum-based Measure of Reading: Calibrating a new passage reading test against the New South Wales Basic Skills Test

Results are presented from a pilot study and a larger scale study aligning a curriculum-based passage reading test, the Wheldall Assessment of Reading Passages (WARP), with the literacy components of the New South Wales Basic Skills Test (BST). A strong relationship between the WARP and BST Literacy is demonstrated, particularly for Year Three students. Representative (approximate) norms for students in Years One to Five on the WARP are reported, based on the results from a school with a BST literacy profile that is very similar to that for the state of New South Wales as a whole.